


Gunslinger

by AgentMystery



Series: TWDG Wild West AU [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - 19th Century, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Period-Typical Racism, Slow Burn, Wild West
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:47:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28172661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMystery/pseuds/AgentMystery
Summary: The infamous bounty hunter in the west, Clementine Everett, is struggling to find a new unspecified home for the sake of her apprentice, Alvin Jr., while on a run from a group of outlaws for continuously capturing their members. She was, unfortunately, got caught by the crosshair of the outlaws. Her near-death experience was dodged with the help of AJ, and the lawmen from a nearby town where the events happened.A weird wild west AU was written by a non-american who does little to no research about the old west.((This fic currently goes in hiatus))
Relationships: Clementine/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: TWDG Wild West AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2123703
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> the characters' ages are 8 years after their canon age (AJ is 14, Clem is 24, y'know what i mean).
> 
> ps; english isnt my main language so bear with me for having awful grammar at some parts, im trying haha.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bounty hunter and her apprentice are searching for their new home.

Endless gallops from the horse against the hardened dirt path passing by the forest, nothing beats the smell of wet bark and the sound of crickets in broad daylight. Not sure where the travels are, but it’s a guarantee that they’re not in a dreadful land of the west due to the large lands of forests and dense civilizations.

It was a long travel from the west indeed, knowing finding a settlement by the eastern woodlands would be a good start for the travelers.

"Are we there yet?"

A teenage boy groans as he leans back to stretch out his arms while balancing on the horse. The older woman in front of him audibly sighs, stroking the tip of her cowboy hat in acknowledgment.

A price to pay for being a bounty hunter full-time.

Traveling through a hot sun is never easy despite the surrounding trees to cool the temperature, sweaty palms force her to tighten a grip of the rein in case it'll slip from a high-speed running horse. Dirt and grime accumulating on her boots started to weigh in discomfort, so the bounty hunter needs to shake her legs occasionally to not only shake off the dust but to ease her tense calves in riding a damn horse for so long.

"Not sure kiddo." The woman answered honestly, hearing a dissatisfied grunt from the boy as expected.

She pulls out the rotating compass from the coat pocket, the device shows that east is positioned by north, "But don't worry, we're heading in the right direction."

"We're just following a clear path, of course that's the right way.", the boy added, "I wish we can go faster."

"That's how fast this horse goes.", the woman turns to the left, admiring the speeding distant mountains like a flipbook.

"Come on Clem," the boy complains, "This suck."

Of course, Clementine expects a boy to complain about anything at this point, especially when he finally settled and got too comfortable staying in a city but eventually got exiled with the woman as she got her bounty.

The older her apprentice got, the more he gets tired of being a nomad.

"Look AJ, I understand how much you hate traveling-"

"But we're constantly moving!", AJ interrupts her, wraps his arms around his mentor to keep his balance, "Aren't you getting tired of moving at all? We've been like this for ages now."

"Well..." _'As much as I love to lay low in a certain city, there are bastards out there who are going to assassinate me.'_ "I bet the next city would be our new place to start, I promise."

"The next place we're going would be our permanent home?", AJ's face lit up, "Promise?"

The bounty hunter internally hopes that the next city is hard to find on a standard map.

"We'll see first.", from that statement, Clementine can feel AJ frowning from behind.

* * *

_"I know_ **_Everett_ ** _came here a day before, where the fuck is she?"_

_"Sir, I don't know what you're-"_

_The click from the hammer of a revolver echoes in the room._

_"If you keep wastin' my damn time, I won't fucking hesitate to blow your brains out."_

_"Y-You can't do that!"_

_"Oh you know I can, besides, my friends are having a nice chat with the lawmen in the town hall so they don't give a single shit about anyone." A chuckle comes out from the man, huffing out tobacco, "I want you to spit out this information since this town only has one fucking inn where the bounty hunter stayed."_

_"S-Sir-"_

_The man placed the muzzle against the owner's temple._

_"Enough fucking around, you mutt!", the man blows out the drag while giving a deadly glare to the owner, "Tell me where_ **_Clementine_ ** _fucking_ **_Everett_ ** _headed, and I promise to treat you nicely."_

* * *

After endless gallops, Clementine felt the warmth from the sun slowly cool off. She looked up and see the sky's hue has gone darker and the sun's setting by the landscape.

Not taking a risk in releasing the rein to check her pocket watch, "AJ," she huffs, "What time is it?"

AJ pulled out his pocket watch from his coat before answering, "S-Six...Six fifty-seven."

_'Huh, the sun sets later than I expected. Maybe the time here sets differently.'_

Clementine quickly pulls back the reins to slow the horse down, "We'll make a stop somewhere here."

"Okay." AJ simply answered but his tone hides his curiosity as to why making an early stop, but he doesn't mind as he is exhausted from sitting on a riding horse for almost a whole day. The woman leads the horse off the path, going off within the woods far out from the main path. They eventually found a narrow path that leads up by the small ridge at the side of a nearby mountain.

* * *

As the horse stops by the safe flat area of the ridge, AJ immediately jumps off from the horse and plops their big backpack on the ground. He obnoxiously stretched his arms out while Clementine hops off from the saddle and wraps the rein by the boulder, along with feeding and giving the horse some of her stored water by the iron canister.

“This place is cold…”, AJ exclaims as he collects their stacked logs from their small carrying cart.

“You can set up the campfire by the middle.”, Clementine points with her gaze while tending a horse.

Meanwhile to AJ, he has already laid the logs with a surrounding crooked rock by the circle as their campfire, while their sleeping bags are neatly placed in between the campfire. However, AJ is struggling to lit up the matchstick for their only source of warmth. The bounty hunter watches him and lightly shakes her head while giving herself a small grin, prompting her to go with the boy.

"Damn it.", he mumbled after breaking the 4th matchstick. AJ sees Clementine kneeling beside him, looking amused at his failed attempts at lighting a match.

"I got it.", Clementine grabbed the box from AJ and light up the stick by herself, one striking stroke and the tip ignites to light up the campfire.

The boy sighs, "How come I can't light the match?"  
Clementine looks at the shell of the box, seeing deep marks caused by AJ's attempts makes her scoff at herself, "You shouldn't press the stick too hard, or it'll break." She put the matchbox in the front pocket of a bag, then pulled out a can of beans and an aluminum round pan.  
"How so? I tried to copy from what you did.", AJ crosses his arms in irritation.  
Clementine grinned, "Maybe you press the stick _way_ too hard," She sat down on her sleeping bag to open the canned food and pour its contents out to the pan, "Just be gentle next time."

AJ sighs, "Okay." He crossed his legs and watch Clementine sets the pan on the grill that lays above the fire.

While the bounty hunter is stirring the beans to cook it evenly, the boy pulled out his tiny revolver from his holster. He quickly flicked the gun to pop the cylinder out, five empty chambers and one bullet.

"What'cha doing there, goofball?", Clementine wondered as she heard a familiar click by the other side, making a small conversation. AJ rolled his eyes at the nickname, "I don't like goofball."

The woman ghostly smiles, "What about shitbird, then?"

"No!" AJ giggled, "You're a shitbird!"

From moments like this, the bounty hunter couldn't help herself but laugh at her apprentice's statements to temporarily forget the fact she was constantly getting hunted by the connections of the criminals who she captured before.

Not until she frowned from the thought about it.

_'I can't believe AJ is involved in all this, if only I've been able to drag him out of trouble...'_

"Can't believe you've grown up so fast," Clementine absently says, "You're just a little boy yesterday."

"I am the same as yesterday, Clem.", AJ shifts his bum to sit by the sleeping bag comfortably, "Except I'm not as tired as today."

The woman smirked, "That's not what I meant, but you do you."

"You're weird."

"I know."

As Clementine stated, a silence lurks between them with only the sounds of a crackling campfire and distant cries of wild animals across the woods. The ambiance itself makes the bounty hunter contemplate further if AJ is still an ordinary kid like her before stumbling in the wild west, but their conversation earlier gives her a small smile.

Gunshots, blood, heated arguments between adults. AJ witnessed most of these because of Clementine's dangerous career that forces him to be involved no matter what.

_'Shit.'_

"Clem?"

The woman snaps out as the boy calls out her name, she felt her spoon was heated up for staying it in one place and the beans were hot enough to eat.

"You look lost.", AJ added, looking at his mentor giving the beans one last stir with the warm spoon and lifts the pan from the grill.

"I'm just thinking a lot of things." Clementine blankly stated as she hands out the pan to the boy, hoping he won't ask further, "Eat, you must be starving."

Without hesitation, AJ grabbed the pan _(his precious hands were protected with leather gloves)_. Before he digs in, AJ looked up to Clementine who's gazing at the landscape thoughtfully.

"Aren't you gonna eat it too?", he wondered, and Clementine looks back to the boy, giving him a small smile, "Well, you deserve it after enduring the day-long horse ride today."

From that statement, AJ frowns, "But you're hungry."

The bounty hunter shakes her head, "Not really. I don't want my kiddo to be starving by the next morning. You can save some for me when you're full."

The boy nods without question and starts digging into his food. Clementine sighs and continues to admire the dark landscape. From the forest silhouette to distant spacious towns that look like a firefly, but she spotted one active town that looks few miles ahead from where she's sitting. Unfortunately, back from the path, she couldn't see the town from the naked eye, second-guessing that it is over 10 miles.

But it seems that the town wasn't located by the path, as it is almost near the mountainside.

"I see a town from here," Clementine spoke up, catching AJ's attention. He looked where his mentor looking, also seeing the distant lit-up town, "But we're still far from the path, by the morning we'll just go straight to that town without ever following the path."

The boy gives Clementine a skeptical look as she looks at her compass, "Are you sure you know where to go?"

"Mhm. It's pointing north-east." Clementine shoves the device into her pocket, "Going be a long travel again."

No reply from AJ, as he is busy devouring the beans. The bounty hunter pockets the compass and continues to observe the dark landscape.

Before she lost track of time again, she heard a loud burp from behind.

Clementine snorts, "You done, kiddo?"

"I'm full now, you'll eat the rest."

The woman stood up and walks by AJ to retrieve the pan.

"Hey, Clem?"

Clementine slowly kneels to the boy, "Yes, AJ?"

"What if you're in danger and you're defenseless?", he suddenly asks, making the bounty hunter caught off guard, "After all the stuff you taught me since when I was little, I want to help you back!"

Clementine parts her lips, contemplating.

"There are times when you got caught by the bad guys and I know you don't want me to be involved...", AJ pulls out his revolver and pushes the cylinder out, showing a single bullet to his mentor, "With this single bullet, I know I can help you when the time comes! Please, Clem..."

The woman sighs, unsure what she's about to say. Knowing that she taught him tons of survival bits of advice in the west like shooting a gun, navigating, moral lessons and plenty more like her old mentor taught her before.

After all the teaching and involvement from her past dangerous bounties, she realized that AJ was already involved in that mess.

"I guess now's the time, kiddo.", Clementine continued, "It seems hypocritical to me to constantly back you out from the crap after years of you watching my bounty work."

"That's what I'm thinking, Clem." AJ added, "I hate watching you doing all the work yourself! So, let me help you..."

As AJ trails off, Clementine chuckles and placed her hand on his shoulder, "I honestly wouldn't mind a strong-willed partner like you, kiddo. Of course, you can help me."

"Strong-willed?"

"It's uh..." Clementine stammered, trying to find a simplified meaning of that word, "It means you always tried what you want for the better."

AJ awes, and Clementine couldn't help but melt from AJ's exaggerated expressions.

"What's that weird look?", AJ tilted his head in confusion.

The woman laughs then boops the boy's nose with her finger, "It's just you are being a goofball."

"Alvin Junior! I'm not a kid anymore!"

"Whatever."

AJ stayed quiet while Clementine patted his head, "You've grown so big now."

"I know, I like being big.", AJ smirked, "I might be bigger than you when I'm an adult."

"That's hella scary.", Clementine lowers her hand from his head, "And I can see you got a bad feeling I might be in danger by the next moments or so, the best time to trust you in making the right calls."

"I always sense danger whenever we're out of town...", AJ mumbled, "Like, all the time."

"I understand, and I trust your guts this time." She nods, "Also since you mentioned that you only have one bullet by your revolver, you always-"

"Always save the last bullet for me." AJ let out his determined expression.

"That's right." Clementine pats his head one last time and squashing down his cowboy hat a bit, "I promise I'll give you full ammo tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay." AJ simply stated and feeling satisfied at the same time. Clementine sits by her sleeping bag to finish the final bits of the meal.

* * *

_"Are you sure that's the right way, boss?"_

_"It has to be, when that fucking inn owner lied, we better go back to that mutt and shoot him."_

_"But we're too far out now, boss-"_

_"Hey! Look!"_

_A younger man points to the distant smoke by the top of a small mountain ridge. The three stopped their horses, causing the cart by the middle horse to rattle from a sudden stop. The man by the middle horse puffs out a cloud of smoke and pulls out his binoculars, focusing by the ridge._

_Even it was nighttime, he saw a thin string of smoke as a usual sign of campfire being extinguished recently. "Someone's there for sure- wait a moment....", he shifted to the silhouette of the horse standing around._

_The man grinned, "We hit a jackpot, boys."_

_“How would you have guessed that’s her, sir?”, the younger man questions._

_“All we know she’s a lonely traveler.”, the man slaps the rein against his horse, forcing it to gallop within the woods followed by the other men behind._

* * *

Putting out the campfire with rocks and pebbles is way harder than water as Clementine expected, but it's better to conserve their drinking water as it is scarce and expensive around.

AJ was fast asleep after a whole day of traveling, snoring soundly that gives a hardened bounty hunter a snicker.

Clementine noticed that the horse is still standing and tense, she knows that they're flight creatures who usually prepare to run away from danger, but this time it senses something intense that the bounty hunter didn't notice.

Clementine keeps watching the horse for a few minutes, still rigid.

She stood up from her sleeping bag and walked to the horse, "What's wrong?", Clementine whispers and strokes the forehead to ease it. No avail since it keeps huffing out in nervousness, which makes Clementine felt uneasy.

Then she heard incoming galloping noises.

She stopped, and the noises are getting louder and louder from behind.

_'This isn't good.'_

The bounty hunter moves her hand towards a holster where her revolver is in and quickly turns around. Upon facing to the galloping sounds, a gunshot ring.

A sharp pain penetrates by the side of her abdomen.

Clementine lets out her surprised, pained gasp and stumbles a bit, but she continues to draw out her revolver and shoots at the dark figure by the side. The figure lets out his pained grunt and falls by his back.

Another gunshot rings, a bullet grazed her right hand that forces her to release the revolver. Clementine hisses and looks at her grazed hand, a long stroke of wound across her hand bleeds out. Incoming footsteps arise and before the bounty hunter takes action, someone hooked by her jaw. Clementine refocuses her vision as a figure grabbed both of her arms and locked them at her back, forcing her to stay still.

"A defenseless hunter is such a sight to see.", the man at the front chuckles, "But I'm not fucking happy you killed one of my men."

He throws a punch on Clementine's stomach, she let out a pained hiss and drops on her knees while her abdominal muscles contracts from her bleeding wound at the side.

The lock of her arms tightens, and Clementine slowly shifts her head up, seeing a balding man with bushy sideburns giving a penetrating glare at the woman with his different colored eyes by the moonlight. He puffs out his tobacco while balancing the drag between his lips, "I finally found you, Everett."

It wasn’t their first encounter.

"Abel...", Clementine laughed lowly, "What the fuck do you want?" She felt her arms getting tightened and winced as her grazed hand scrapped against her back.

"Oh, you know what I want hunter.", he puffs and throws a jab on her left cheek. Before rotating her back to front, Abel quickly lifts his knee to hit her sternum, making Clementine yelps. She clenches her teeth while the ache on her abdomen spreads, letting out her harsh breaths.

Abel pulls out his revolver from his holster, then pulls back the hammer of his revolver, "After all the trouble you caused to my group and burst off my fucking arm, I would love to kill you in this very spot.", he placed the muzzle on the woman's temple.

The grip by her arms starts to loosen, "Sir, Boss wants her- "

"Shut up! I know she wants this damn bounty hunter!", he pushes the revolver deeper as Abel rants.

“All we need is to capture her!”

Abel spits to the side and pulls his revolver away from the woman’s temple, “Fucking hell, why won’t you give me a ‘lil good time for me eh?!”

While the two outlaws argued back and forth, Clementine's eyes shifted to her left side and saw AJ still lying in his sleeping bag, but his revolver aimed at Abel.

 _'If AJ pulled the trigger, the other criminal might hurt him and possibly...'_ Clementine's eyes widen, _'Kill him.'_

The bounty hunter shifted her eyes to the cart that Abel's horse was carrying, a cart was filled with stacked dynamites.

She shifted her gaze to AJ and noticed that he's aiming at the cart.

Clementine realized what he's about to do.

"Hey! Everett!!" Abel used the barrel of his revolver to lift Clementine's chin, "Are you fucking listening-"

The next thing she heard was a loud gunshot from AJ's revolver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The interaction between Clem and AJ is kinda weird in this chapter because I feel like their mentor/apprentice relationship has been established at this point. Unlike in the canon where AJ is younger and seeks Clem for approval or advices, this time AJ is a teenager and he'll just do shit whatever he pleases or smth.


	2. No More Running

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the explosion, the bounty hunter didn't expect kind hospitality from new faces in an unfamiliar town.

_"Shit! What the fuck just happened?!"_

_"What the fuck happened? Our cart blew up you dumb fuck!"_

**_Tinnitus lingers, she couldn't listen to the rest of the criminals' conversation._ **

_Inhale. Exhale._

_Inhale. Exhale._

**_Blurry vision. Nothing but blobs of orange and grey._ **

**_She no longer hears the familiar nasty voices._ **

**_But the ringing started to bother her._ **

_AJ? **She couldn't hear herself.** Help..._

**_Tried to raise her arm, but the jolt from the right side of an abdomen forces her to lower it._ **

**_Her right hand also stings as she laid her hand against the dirt and grime on the ground._ **

_Fuck._

**_She heard noises, muffled voices since the tinnitus won't shut up._ **

**_She felt light. The strangling sensation across her body spread._ **

_What is this feeling?_

**_Tilted her head to the side, consciousness slowly drifts away._ **

**_Platinum, black and pale blobs are the last things she saw before the world drifts to black._ **

* * *

Upon slowly opening her eyes, the brunette's consciousness slowly slipped in and the blurred, bright environment started to focus as Clementine continues to blink. Polished oak boards by the ceiling, slowly getting corroded from the lack of maintenance. She turns her head to the right and saw a metal cart of supposedly medical equipment, first aid messily scattered over, oblivious that it was recently used.

She widens her eyes a bit and noticed there was an empty bed on the other side, along with the room's lack of furniture.

Clementine's realization slipped as she realized that she's alone.

"A-AJ!", she jolted up but halted as she felt a sharp pain in her right abdomen. While wincing, she hovers her hand by her wound and stroke it, feeling a gauze around.

Sudden headache triggers by her mid-scalp, reaching up her hand to hold it but she also felt a thick gauze. Absently touches the spot that feels damp, assuming _certain medicine_ was leaked through or her blood.

As she closes her fist, she felt a wrapped gauze around her hand. Looked down and see bleeding where the graze is, a good thing that the stinging from her hand is not as intense, unlike last night.

Clementine slowly shakes her head to ease and eventually looked down at her body, only on her clean white blouse ( _a new one somehow, her previous must have a bullet hole now_ ) but her hazel straight jeans are filthier than before, assuming it's from the last night's chaos. She sighs audibly from her missing blue vest coat and holster, realized she's extremely vulnerable at this moment.

She carefully shifts her legs off the edge of the bed to not disturb the wound and saw her high leather boots by the bedside. Continues to look around for her bag and other belongings, no sign of those.

_'Shit.'_ , she thought as she softly massages her temple, _'The stuff must be with AJ's, hopefully.'_

_'And where the fuck am I...?'_

The wooden door creaks open and the bounty hunter quickly stood up with panic across her expression and body language, ignoring a stinging pain in her abdomen. She saw a dark-skinned boy who looks a few years older than AJ with a burn scar on his entire right mid-rear area. Blue polo that compliments with his suspenders and a cowboy hat resting at his nape, and black bootcut pants along with his roper leather boots.

The boy freezes as he saw Clementine off the bed and standing defensively, he tilts his head off the room, "Marlon, she's awake.", he called out.

Momentarily, a taller man with red long sleeve polo underneath his white waistcoat that's tucked into his black straight jeans. His holster was held uneven on his waist from the weight of his revolver and a neatly rolled rope hanging at the opposite side. Clementine noticed that the man has a six-sided star badge labeled **'Marshal'** by his left chest and a rifle by his back with a strap by his torso.

"I see," the marshal stated, "You look troubled. Don't worry, you and your boy are safe."

Clementine slightly sighs in relief but doesn't let her guard down.

"If we wanted to hurt you in the first place, we won't be putting you by this clinic right now.", he added, knowing that the bounty hunter is clueless and tense.

Clementine raises her head, "How would I know that?"

"The gauzes and medication, of course.", the Marshal answered, and the woman raises her eyebrow doubtingly, "I... appreciate your hospitality."

"That's good.", he chuckled then takes a few steps forward into the room, "You were in a rough shape when we first found you, and we did everything we could to path you up."

Even with Clementine's lack of response, he added, "Name's Marlon, the city's Marshal." he tipped his white Dakota style hat.

"That's Tennessee, but Tenn for short. He's the one who voluntarily takes care of you while you're off.", he gestured to the boy who cowardly hides behind Marlon's figure.

Clementine simply nods by their introduction, "Clementine."

Marlon nods, "Come on, let's go see your boy."

* * *

After wearing her boots back and following Marlon with Tenn behind out of the clinic room, Clementine thoughtfully wonders how the clinic's staff aren't present in the building. _'Maybe Tenn is a staff, but the Marshall stated he's a volunteer... weird.'_ The Marshal opens the door to let Clementine out first followed by Tenn dashing out.

The woman gazes by the town, people making themselves busy with their work, strolling by, horses carrying carts, and even children chasing each other by the dense soiled street. Clementine noticed the size of the town was decently sized for at least a thousand citizens, but the population isn't as dense as the other towns she's previously been.

Just realized that the town is surrounded by the woods, a glimpse of greens and brown unlike the deserted sand back when she’s at the west.

"I noticed you and the boy are travelers, endless move from one town to another," Marlon inquired while walks beside Clementine who leans against the wooden beam, "Just an assumption since you two are covered in dust from head to toe when we first saw you two."

The bounty hunter shrugged, "Yeah, since the civil war."

"Ten years?!" Marlon exclaimed in surprise, "Shit, couldn't imagine the pain you went through since you're..." he trailed off as he adjusts his hat to see the woman clearly, "Nomad."

"You sound surprised.", Clementine added making the Marshal gulped, "Of course, I've never seen someone by my age on a wild or something."

"Taking a little break on here would be nice," The woman crossed her arms, "If you or the mayor don't mind at all."

"Of course, we welcome anyone here as long as they're not a threat.", Marlon walks off to the porch and Clementine follows behind.

She observed with a clearer view of numerous people walking by while carrying crates, guiding the cattle and horses to their respective places, and even chatting by the porches. Even young adults are working by the alleyways, chopping wood.

It was her first time seeing a town with an advantageous area to be in; plenty of trees to gather from, a large mountain where to gather useful resources, and possibly a nearby stream _(but sees water pumps in certain sections of the street)_.

At the corner of Clementine's eye, she spotted Tenn running by the sheriff's building. A taller woman standing by the porch whose half of her face was blocked with her diamond-type hat, her attire was the loose blouse with rolled-up sleeves above her elbow tucked in with high-waisted beige pants, and even it was also tucked in by her high cowboy boots.

Another thing she noticed was a similar 6-sides star badge above her left chest, Clementine guesses she must be a sheriff or deputy.

Tenn talks and points to the bounty hunter, the woman's head followed. She raises her head a bit to see without her hat blocking the way, revealing blonde side bangs almost covering the black eyepatch on her right eye and a green eye is glaring to Clementine with furrowed defined eyebrows.

The bounty hunter turns her head away to keep track of the marshal.

"What happened to our stuff?", she asks.

"We retrieve most of 'em, but we helped the boy to carry your stuff off from the explosion," he answered, "Unfortunately your horse... let's say the debris got her or fell from the cliff, wouldn't make it."

Clementine lowers her head, "Fuck."

"We had to work fast, the explosion happened in the middle of the night by the top of the ridge.", While Marlon talks, the woman noticed a little boy staring at her by the side. Feeling uncomfortable, she spoke to the boy, "Uh... hi there?"

Confused, Marlon turns around and saw the boy beside Clementine. He quickly ran off and the bounty hunter turns her head to the marshal, "What's his problem?"

"You're just new," he walks closer, "We haven't seen anyone like you in ever."

Their conversation is in pause a bit until Clementine turns to view a semi-busy street, "I'm surprised that the low number of people were able to keep the town running."

"Yeah, we haven't got any of the new people who are willing to stay here since they see them as tourists.", Marlon scuffed, "I mean, we have plenty of empty houses to spare here."

"But after the shit happened back then, I'm guessing this town is out from the map.", the marshal admitted.

"What was the name of this town?", the woman inquired.

"Ericsons," Marlon stopped walking and sighs, "A name after a man who's bedridden at this moment."

"I don't think that name clicks to me since I don't see it on the map.", Clementine implored.

"Damn, I see."

The brunette hums to herself, knowing the town she's in wasn't that well-known or forgotten.

"The man you talked about was the mayor, yes?", she questioned.

Marlon turned around and nods, "Sadly he's not as... functional as he used to. Don't think an old man like him was able to keep up his responsibilities as a mayor."

"If that's a case, who's in charge?", Clementine raises her eyebrow in suspicion.

"Well, I am." the marshal placed his hand by his chest, referring by himself, "I know it's weird that a marshal is also a mayor at the same time, but we need someone to keep this town alive."

"We used to have many people in this town, but shit happens with awful people who pass by here to the point older folks ran off or they prefer going to the deserted west." He sighs, "Now allow me to make it formal: welcome to Ericsons, just your typical lone town with troubled citizens. Sound pretty unusual but hey, many of us here are teenagers since the old folks left us back in the civil war."

"You and that boy were fit in by that description, in spite you both are _'loner'_ types and all after the traveling.", Marlon lowers his arms from crossing.

"Pretty obvious if you asked me.", Clementine comments.

"I would also add _'troubled'_ to your boy.", he furrowed his eyebrows in concern followed by Clementine's question, "Excuse me?"

"Let's just say he isn't happy without you around." He faced the bounty hunter, "at all."

Before Clementine says something, Marlon's shoulder got tapped by a boy who's got the same age as Tenn with a low ponytail and an outfit of brown polo with a denim jumper tucked into his boots. The boy is also holding a pickaxe, must be a prospector.

"Marlon, we need help by the mines, smug-ass merchants interrupting.", he whispered loudly enough that Clementine can hear.

"Alright, I'll follow by.", the marshal replied then the prospector dashes off by the edge of town, "Sounds like it's nothing like a usual shit with pests infesting the mines. Your kid is by the saloon, I think he's with Louis."

"Louis?"

"Oh, right. Just follow the music by the saloon and you'll find him.", Marlon turns his back to the front, following the prospector.

Clementine sighs and looks by the sheriff's building noticed that the same woman by the porch is staring while leaning against the fence. She slowly looks away and the bounty hunter just sighs.

_'Wonder who she is.'_

The brunette looks around by the buildings and spotted a larger building with a massive sign **'Saloon'** above the archway. She strolls towards the building and slowly hears the rhythmic sounds of the piano, Marlon's right that someone is there in spite of the bar is quite empty.

* * *

Even with the **'closed'** sign, Clementine still pushed the doors in and seeing the saloon dark and empty except for the rhythmic piano playing by the right side of the bar. Worn wood by the walls but the tables and chairs are polished and well-kept.

Unlike the other saloons she's been to, this doesn't have a second floor, but the size of the interior is insanely large comparing to the other saloons.

By the island, she noticed the bartender was absent, of course since the saloon was closed. The shelf above has decent rays of flavored alcohol bottles, mostly whiskey that she's familiar with. Labeled barrels "beer" are by the side of the counter along with other untouched bottles that are only for display.

_'Marlon wasn't exaggerating when there aren't many people in this town, saloons are usually open and active in this afternoon,'_ the bounty hunter hums, _'But the priority is to find AJ, drinking later.'_

She turns her head to the right side of the saloon where the piano comes from, seeing that side was lit up brightly from the chandelier with sets of lanterns that's light up manually. Clementine looks at her level and saw two figures, one is at the piano by the stage and the other was standing away from the stage who's listening intently. She walked up to the stage and the notable loose tuning of the wooden piano gets clearer and gets impressed with the pianist's playing.

Getting closer and sees AJ's side profile, Clementine smiles at the boy who's enjoying listening to the piano. Another step creates a loud creak by the floorboard, making AJ turn to her with his surprised expression quickly turns into excitement.

"Clementine!", he shouted as he dashes to her and gives her a tight hug that almost makes her collapse. She snickered and returned a hug, "Whoa there, you acted like you haven't seen me forever.", AJ squeezes tighter that makes her wince from a wound by the abdomen, "Also you can stop hugging me now, I have a bullet wound remember?"

That response makes AJ quickly pull away from the hug, "S-Sorry, I was worried you might not wake up soon or something."

"It's fine, kiddo." Clementine lifts off the boy's cowboy hat to ruffle his neatly trimmed afro, "I noticed you got a haircut there."

"Of course," an enthusiastic male voice echoes behind AJ that stops a piano playing, the woman looked up and see the pianist turned his body towards the pair. He flicked his gambler hat back with his hazel eyes gazing, slouched with his olive open coat that drapes over along with green striped polo underneath, black leather jeans spread out across the stool like a show-off, "Your boy's head looking like a forest so I gave him a lovely haircut."

Clementine figured that's Louis from what Marlon mentioned earlier.

"It's AJ.", the youngest spoke up sternly.

"Excuse me," Louis cleared his throat, "I watched AJ for you."

"I... appreciate it." Clementine rubbed her nape in embarrassment, "Hope he doesn't cause much trouble for you."

AJ quickly turns to Clementine, giving her an assuring tug by her sleeve, "I don't!"

Louis gives a hearty laugh, "That's a tricky lie, son. If only you could've seen what he did to Ruby earlier, he's quite jumpy."

The bounty hunter remembers that AJ's quite a _biter_.

"About that," Clementine sighs, not sure how to explain, "AJ doesn't like to be snuck up by behind."

"Don't do that.", the boy crossed his arms while giving a deadly glare at Louis, who's in shock at first then he gives a smirk and finger guns to AJ, "You got it, little man."

He shifts in facing to the piano, "I'll just give you free entertainment with my alluring music.", Louis continues the same piece as Clementine walked into the saloon earlier.

He turned his head to the bounty hunter, "I'm Louis."

Even she already knows his name, she just shrugs it off to not be rude, "Clementine."

"Oh yeah, Marlon left your bag here somewhere here.", Louis added. While AJ is mesmerized by the upbeat piano playing, Clementine quickly looks around and saw a familiar large backpack leaning against the counter. She retrieves it and checks in case for missing items, the woman sighs in relief as she pulled out her holster with her revolver still attached there along with her wrinkled hat and vest that's crammed into the bag.

She inspects the vest and quietly hums as she felt a familiar thin iron badge still attached by the chest part.

The bounty hunter attached the holster around her waist then wears her beloved hat and vest to complete her look. As she's trying to close the vest, she felt her wound tightens slightly. Hissing and takes off the two lowest buttons to loosen the vest to not disturb her healing wound. She wears her bag by slinging its right strap over her left shoulder and walks over to AJ then grasp his shoulder to get his attention, "You have your belongings?"

AJ pulled out his revolver from the holster, "Yeah."

Louis stopped his piano playing while looking at the two anxiously, "Forgot to mention that a teenager like AJ owns a damn gun?" He shifts his body to face the two, "Does he know what it is?"

"Hmph, it's dirty though," AJ stated as he flicked out the cylinder, ignoring Louis's protest.

"Must be from the explosion last night," Clementine shrugged, "You can clean it while you can here."

"I'll do it later."

"Dude," Louis, at the background, eyebrows furrowed in distaste, "That can't be good."

The bounty hunter crosses her arms then faced the pianist, "He knows how to use it, it's not like he was running around while waving a damn gun around."

From the straightforward response, Louis sighs then faced the piano, "You two do your own thing, I guess."

As he continues playing, Clementine lowers her hands to the sides and wonder Louis's obscure reaction of a teenager owning a gun in the west, "Do any of the townspeople here own a gun?"

He faced Clementine with his eyebrow raised, "Well there's only three of us lawmen, and Marlon allowing an outsider to carry their damn firearms raise my guard."

The woman hums, gained a new knowledge that Louis is a lawman not some random performer with the only purpose is to entertain in an empty saloon since Clementine notice he doesn't have a badge anywhere on his coat.

She wonders who's the other lawman, her brain screams for that eye-patched woman.

"Didn't mean to upset you or something, AJ is a cool dude and I want to ask for validation from his guardian.", the lawman then performs a glissando, "I mean, earlier he asked me to teach some teeny tiny piano tips for him to practice."

"Yeah!" AJ happily exclaimed, "I understand how piano playing works and I can play it!"

"Ehh, barely." Louis added, "Besides, you can come back here for more lessons, little man."

Before Clementine comments, the saloon doors slam open in that makes everyone looks at the doorway with Marlon tensing.

"Have you seen Rosie?", the Marshal asks. Louis slowly shifts his position to fully face him, "Nope.", he simply answered.

"Shit.", Marlon muttered, then raised his voice, "There's a situation out there that I might need an extra hand for."

He turned to Clementine, "Do you mind? We'll talk about what's your bounty later by the sheriff building."

The woman silently nods, in which Marlon nods back then looks at Louis, "You too Louis, get your ass in gear."

He hurriedly dashes out from the saloon and Louis stretched out his arms upon standing from his stool, "Fine."

The three walks off from the stage.

* * *

"You sure you want to help too?" Louis questions while walking in front of the two, "You're still recovering and all."

"I'll be fine.", Clementine acknowledged, "Feels like it gets better."

"Hope so.", AJ mutters.

The duo follows Louis by the sheriff building. The wooden door at the front reveals Marlon and the eye-patched woman having a quiet discussion by the large circular table in the middle of the interior. Hearing the creaks as the three stepped in, Marlon is the only one who perked up his head in acknowledging their arrival.

"So, did you give her weapon back?", the marshal inquired, and the bounty hunter simply answered by pulling out her revolver from the holster halfway, "Good. We need to put you in use."

He gestured the adults and AJ follows along to the table, showing a map of the city laid flat.

Marlon points at the mining symbol by the edge of the map, "Our mines got sabotaged and some of our prospectors got held hostage by a bunch of lowlives. I heard from Willy that they don't easily give up on simple negotiations, preferred to just steal shit from us."

"So, what are we supposed to do?", Louis questioned.

Marlon sighs sadly, indicating that his answer is something that Louis won't like, "We might do a hard way, our best and the only solution from dealing with runts like them."

"But-"

"Our prospectors are held in gunpoint, Louis.", another husky feminine voice spoke up that's coming from the eye-patched woman who's still focusing on the map. Clementine noticed her hat is resting by her nape like Tenn earlier that exposes her sandy blonde hair on a ponytail, the hat's strings tucked under her tied purple plain bandana by the collarbone in support.

The blonde raised her head a bit to give Clementine a penetrating glare, "Also shit won't get easier since our easy way into the mines got blocked by an explosion on the mountains."

"Vi.", Marlon interjected. The blonde straightens her pose then crossed her arms, "What? That's exactly what happened."

"Look," Clementine spoke up, which catches the blonde's attention, "I didn't know any of that was gonna happen. Sorry if it's caused you guys problems."

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows and sighs quietly, avoiding eye contact with the brunette.

Louis, on the other hand, clears his throat, "Hi Clementine, I'm Violet!" He gestures to the contemplating blonde at the other side, "Ericson's deputy marshal, nice to meet you."

"What he said.", is what all Violet comments.

"Anyways." Marlon spoke up, "About your bounty, is there something on your mind?"

"I'm not cheap."

"We're not that poor, y'know.", Louis insisted.

Clementine thought about money but quickly remembers that she has enough after all her previous bounties with the commissioners' generous offers. She simply shrugged, "I thought about getting a new rifle recently, so maybe a Sharps rifle would be nice."

"A good shit I see." Marlon chuckles, "I don't know if we that around since any of us pre-owned a rifle, it takes time to make a new one from our gunsmith-"

"I have that rifle by my office," Violet suddenly spoke up, "Can't remember the last time I used it, but I can give it a checkup after this clusterfuck mission."

She gives Clementine an assuring look, and the brunette raises an eyebrow from that look, "You fine with that?", the blonde asks.

"I'll take it.", Clementine grins in satisfaction, "No need to get your rifle right now for proof, I know that a lawman owns one."

"Alright then," Violet walks around the table towards the doorway, "Negotiation's done you slowpokes, time to head out."

It was a queue for Marlon to pick up the map and folded into a small square, "About your horse," he whispered as she walked beside Clementine, "I'll provide you one by our stable."

"Sounds good."

Marlon nods from that reply and follows the deputy behind along with Louis, Clementine then AJ.

"Don't mind Violet, she'll eventually grow on you," Louis whispers to the bounty hunter, "But it seems she already does by the looks of it."

Ending his statement with a wink, Clementine knows that dealing with a blunt and hardened lawman is quite a challenge.

Internally, she wants to know her more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for reference, this is what louis is playing by the piano: https://youtu.be/ZYqy7pBqbw4


	3. Rumbling Mines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first bounty in Ericsons to give off first impressions for everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took a while, this chapter is hella tricky to write. i wasn't sure what to aspire from the walker killing montage in clearing the way for the hunting party in ep 1, and im not sure if the criminal stuff is good enough for this.
> 
> this fic was originally over 6k words but it was long overdue before new years. so i'll cut it down to atleast 3k words and the rest are moved to the next chapter.

The three lawmen are rushed to the horse stable beside the sheriff building, Marlon faced the bounty hunter and waved his arm up high, signaling her to the lone spare horse beside him with a caged cart attached behind.

Before Clementine proceeds, she felt the back of her vest was tugged down.

"Clem," AJ called out as the older woman turned around, "Can I go with you? I want to help."

Clementine looks to the men at the stable, patiently waiting for her arrival but Violet gives a glance to AJ then to the bounty hunter, giving an assuring shake of her head.

This must be one of the missions to leave AJ, despite her recovering bullet wound.

"Sorry AJ, it seems like this job is just for me to handle with them.", Clementine assured and sees the boy's shoulders sag in disappointment, "But you're injured..."

"I'm a toughie, remember?", Clementine humors, but AJ's expression went sour, "I know you are, but you're still hurt."

"Well, I still need to do my work done."

A momentary pause, AJ sighs, "Then what am I supposed to do here?"

"Well..." The bounty hunter trails off as she looks around the townspeople working, and it gives her a bright idea, "How about talking with other townspeople? I'm sure you're eager to know them."

The boy twiddles his thumbs, "But I first gave them a bad impression before you woke up."

"You can make it up for it by apologizing," Clementine added, "An honest apology will be hard, but fulfilling. You can do it without me."

AJ drops his hands by the sides, "Okay."

The bounty hunter lowers her bag and handed it to AJ that he eagerly accepts.

Clementine gives him a small smile and ruffles his hat, "See you on the other side."

AJ determinately nods and the woman turns around to walk over to the awaiting lawmen by the stable.

"Alright, listen up." Marlon spoke up while handing the rein to Clementine, "We'll go to the alternate route to the mines since the main tunnel was blocked off." The Marshal goes to his horse that also carries the caged carts and rides on the saddle.

"In which it takes longer to travel there," Violet added as she drapes her black hat before wearing it, "Expect intense casualties from our late arrival."

"That too," Marlon sighs, "Just follow us along to the mines then we'll assess the situation as soon as we got there."

"Alrighty!" Louis hollered as he jumps on the saddle of his horse.

"Oh my god," Violet grunts and hops on the horse, "Since when do you sound so excited about hostage shit like this, Louis?"

"Even way before Clementine arrived here.", Louis gives the bounty hunter a wink and Violet rolls her eye then pulls a rein that makes her horse gallops off the stable, followed by Marlon behind.

Clementine shakes her head and steps on the stool to prevent her from stressing the wound then sits on the saddle.

"Does your wound feel okay?", Louis pulls back the rein, "I mean, I can see you're struggling from climbing up the horse."

"Maybe," Clementine adjusts her legs to align, "Good thing you guys have a stool here."

"Best for the shorties and I guess that includes the injured too.", Louis responds then gallops off. With that, Clementine kicks the side of the horse and proceeds.

By the road, she sees the lawmen running off in the distance by the edge of the city and the bounty hunter catches up. Clementine was impressed by the horse's speed that she was able to catch up by Louis's side but mindful of the cart behind in case it detaches. She focuses on the marshals at the front and they shifted to the left, directly moving to the mountain that is still afar.

"That's the way to the mines in a long route!", Louis shouts and looks back to Clementine, "There are plenty of ways to the mines with faster alternatives, but Violet insisted to go the other way!"

He added, "Not only it takes damn forever to go there, but that's the way only the horses and carts to go in faster and safely."

"Maybe that's the safer way to get into the mines without the criminals noticing it quicker or something.", Clementine answered, "Just a guess that they wouldn’t care less about the farthest tunnel, right?"

Louis hummed, "Man, you're tactical as Violet huh?"

 _'Might be,'_ she pondered, _'I like the way she's thinking.'_

* * *

After 20 minutes of non-stop travel despite Louis’s complaints, it took them 1 hour or so, they stopped by the large gaping tunnel with a thick wooden arch as the support. The four jumped off their horses and tied their reids by the nearby fences, noticed there are unsupervised carts at the other side of the fence.

“Are those carts yours?”, the bounty hunter asked.

“Nope, must be belonged with the bandits.”, Marlon responded then jumps off from the horse.

“Bandits?”, Louis looks skeptically at Marlon who’s walking by the entrance.

“You know, criminals who steal shit?”, Violet deadpanned as she follows Marlon behind. From the blonde’s answer, Louis looks at Clementine and shakes his head as he carefully jumps off from his horse.

The bounty hunter inspected the tunnel entrance, its path was free from recent footprints or tracks as it is unused for a while, although it was covered in dust and the footprints must’ve been covered a while ago since the bandit’s carts are parked outside. Louis may be exaggerated with the "non-human" path explanation earlier, as it was only steep that riding with a horse would be preferred than on foot.

As Clementine is finally by Marlon’s side, he slides his hand under his vest, "Okay, here's the plan." He pulls out a folded paper and opens it that reveals an entire layout of the mines, "This is where we came from, with this large path."

He pointed to the large rectangular path at the top of the layout, then drifts his finger to the large space at the center labeled _'mines'_ , "It's a path to the center, where the whole situation would be taking place, just a jog and you’ll be there in no time since this path is for transporting, unlike our front path." Marlon drifts to the narrow path below labeled _‘path for workers’_ , "The only way to go is by group, they should’ve expected our arrival since that’s where the bandits came from.”, He emphasizes it by giving a quick eye to the carts behind, “While you guys are down there, I'll go by the high ground and scope out with my rifle.", he taps to the narrower paths outside of the main paths.

"You don't need to blast the criminals' brains, Marlon.", Louis comments.

"I'll only do it when shits got worse in the hostage situation.", Marlon stated.

“Why so? We need you there too since you're the damn marshal who knows the situation better.", Violet crosses her arms, "Just give your rifle to the bounty hunter and she'll get the high ground, bounty hunters are known gunslingers in the west."

"What?", Marlon asks and looks at Clementine then to Violet, "You know that I got to use my own rifle, right?"

“You didn’t just hire a damn bounty hunter just to make her a public speaker.”, Violet demands.

"Violet's right," Clementine declared that makes everyone turn their attention to her, "You're the city's marshal, Marlon. You'll be the best choice when it comes to convincing in de-escalating the situation down there than me, a bounty hunter with a god-knows reputation we had."

"Ohh, I like that.", Louis chimed, "Come on Marlon, I don't think they trust a lone bounty hunter more than the person who pretty much runs the city."

"I can see it, but trust isn’t the right word for that Louis." Marlon sighs and pulls out his rifle, losing the strap from his torso, “Since your suggestions make sense to me and using the hunter to do what I’m supposed to do is kind of odd and lazy for me.” He hands his rifle to Clementine, “Be careful with it, and please handle it with great care.”

“I’m surprised you’re being a baby with your rifle, man.”, Louis jokes, and Marlon scoffs, “Come on, who doesn’t treat their expensive gun with care?”

Clementine inclines in grabbing the rifle, a close inspection was the Winchester rifle with both unpolished wooden body. “Its chambers are full so no need to worry about ammunition.”, Marlon added as Clementine unhinges the safety notch by the hammer.

“So, the plan,” Violet remarked, “The three of us are going upfront to the bandits while the bounty hunter is going to the high ground to watch over us.”

“Hope the bandits aren’t trigger happy.”, Louis mutters, which makes Violet groans, “The types of criminals are either bloodthirsty or pacifist in which doesn’t exist.”

Louis nods and waves his finger to Violet, “You got a nasty point, Vi.”

“Alright!”, Marlon claps his hands together to catch everyone’s attention, “We better get moving, the hostage situation is like a ticking C4.”

Before they headed into the tunnel, Clementine inquires, “Where is the high ground exactly?”

“As you enter in the tunnel, you can see the narrow path by that wall,” Louis points to the right side of the wall by the entrance, seeing a thinner wooden arch with a gaping hole, “Just go straight ahead and you’ll start to go sneaking when you reach by the center.”

Clementine nodded at his answer. The two lawmen proceeded into the tunnel but the Marshal exhales and tipped his hat to the bounty hunter, “Good luck out there.”

* * *

As the three lawmen are heading down by the main path, Clementine walks into the smaller dark tunnel with a feeling bit claustrophobia with the rifle resting against her back scrapping by the walls and an uncomfortable jagged rocky wall that she’s trying to balance. However, she can maintain her breathing patterns slowly and the continuous feeling of the walls guiding with her palms, still careful of her gauzed right hand, gives her a relieving feeling.

 _‘This path is very narrow to go through,’_ she wondered, _‘How do miners and prospectors go through here?’_

Her slow, cautious pace through the tunnel stresses the bounty hunter out, _‘I bet they were there first since the tunnel they’re taking is wider.’_

Clementine exhales deeply and sees the light by the end of a tunnel then started to hear distant shouts from various voices. She continues to sneak her way in, and the loud dialogue gets clearer. Rash shouts and yelling make the bounty hunter think that the situation is not as good as expected. Reached at the end of the tunnel shows wooden pillars through the edge, like a cliffside with ropes hanging and connecting each pillar as fences. Looking down through the ropes is the deep area excavated, different paths by the walls like where the bounty hunter has stayed.

“Please, just lower your gun and we’ll negotiate-“

Marlon’s reassuring dialogue got cut off with a ringing gunshot of someone’s revolver. That makes Clementine carefully kneels to prevent her right abdomen from stressing it then pulls out her rifle from the back. She positions herself to keep her eye by the rear sight with a finger over the trigger while her middle and ring finger rests by the lever. With the gauze on around her right hand, she doesn’t mind the uncomfortable feeling on her knuckles.

“Don’t you fucking speak, Marshal!”, an unfamiliar male voice echoes with his demanding tone, “Just do what I say, or I’ll blast this whore’s head!”

At the bottom and the middle of the area, an overweight man with a ragged outfit _(Clementine guesses he’s the leader among the bandits)_ holds a trembling redhead woman on a chokehold with the barrel of his revolver aiming at her right temple.

“Boys,” the man commanded, “Make you aim your guns to the miners’ heads!”

Clementine shifts her vision to the cowering unarmed miners at two corners behind him with two ragged men aiming up their revolvers to them in each corner.

“We don’t mean any harm!” Louis raised his hands for emphasis, but the leader laughs him off, “Don’t mean any harm? Don’t bullshit me monkey, I can see y’all trusty revolvers by your sides.”

“What the fuck did you just call him?!”, Violet’s hand hovers over the holster as she’s about to pull out the revolver, but Marlon raised his hand to stop her.

“You heard me right, blondie.”, the leader waves his gun around, “Why don’t you be a nice girl and hand us your gunpowder?”

“Not without you and your men drop your fucking weapon!” The city’s marshal shouts then slowly steps forward and the leader hesitantly steps back along while holding them hostage, “All you had to do is to drop your damn weapons if you don’t want any of you to get harmed-“

“Shut up!”, the leader cuts off Marlon and shoves the revolver harder to the hostage’s temple, causing her to whimper, “Well all we want is to hand us your gunpowder! Why won’t you do what we say and shit’s going to be easy!”

“If that is all you wanted then why bother to take hostage with our miners?!”, Louis exclaimed and waves his hands around to exaggerate his point, “We can just negotiate with you like normal civilians!”

“Do you think we could do that?” The man chuckles darkly, “We don’t want to spend a single penny or any of our resources.”, he tightens the choke on the hostage, “Hand us what we wanted, or we’ll gun down everyone.”

Marlon gulped his throat, “I’m afraid we can’t do that, no negotiations mean no-“

“Then sorry to say that you bid the final goodbyes for these poor fucks.”, the leader placed his finger over the trigger and the woman cries out, “Marshal, please!”

“Oh my god, this is fucking stupid!”, Violet yells out and pulls out her revolver, aiming at the leader. Her pulling back the hammer that creates a loud click makes the armed bandits shifted their attention to the deputy and aimed their guns at her, including the leader. “One of our prospectors knew that these bastards wouldn’t cooperate for shit and you all didn’t get a damn nerve to gun them down!”, the blonde exclaimed as she slowly steps forward to the leader despite the silent protests from the other lawmen beside her.

“Tell me you fat fuck,” she stops in front of the leader and even Clementine only sees her eyepatch at her side, she can feel a fit of fueling anger through Violet’s eye, “why were you that desperate for gunpowder?”

“Why should we tell you, harlot?”, the leader laughs and aims his revolver at her, “Besides, I never knew a so-called deputy marshal is willing to gun us down while the marshal and the monkey are acting like a bunch of cowards and does peaceful bullshit that isn’t convincing.”

Clementine sees Marlon pulls out his revolver and aims at the leader along with Louis hesitating to pull out his weapon from the holster. Giving a quick look to Violet, she can see her gritting her teeth from the bandit’s racist remarks on Louis. The bounty hunter aims the rifle at the leader’s thigh, knowing that the situation escalates for the worst as the criminals would not cooperate.

Violet slowly pulls the trigger in, “Then you’ve done a bad job as a criminal.”

The leader chuckles then shakes his head, “You’re just wasting your time, miss.”, he aims the gun back to the hostage and snapped, “Shoot ‘em, boys!”

From that moment, Clementine did not think about anything but to pull the trigger. A loud gunshot echoes and the leader painfully screams, stumbling down to his side while the hostage got released and runs up to Violet. The bounty hunter pulls down a lever that snaps out a shell from the desk cover and snaps it back. She aims at the other bandits who are confused and started rapidly shooting before they started other casualties. The only careful aims to the bandits’ legs, continuous shooting and pulling down the lever got her rhythm from the criminals’ yelling.

One. Two, ragged bandits are on the floor howling in pain from their thighs.

“Don’t just stand there! Shoot the lawmen! Forget the miners!”, the leader painfully cries out.

As she snapped the lever back, she felt a strong stringing from her right abdomen. At that moment, her halt firing makes one of the criminals have an opportunity to shoot one of the lawmen. A gunshot fires and sees Louis flinching his left arm where blood splatters back. Marlon on the other hand fires his revolver at the same bandit and got his right hand blasted.

Pained yells from the bandit, Clementine aims at the remaining bandits.

Three. Four, bandits down.

She lowers the rifle, and she sees Marlon walking to the fallen leader and grabbed his collar up, “Do you have any of your men besides the five of you?”, he questioned and the leader whimpers as his wounded thigh bleed out, “N-No! We don’t have ‘em anymore!”

Meanwhile, Violet and the miners retrieved the other criminals’ dropped weapons while Louis handcuffed the criminals with his cringed expression.

“Don’t tell me you have a fucking sniper around?!”, the leader protests, “You are fucking pigs! Knew that you wouldn’t shoot us like a bunch of sissies?”

“Look who’s being a sissy now?”, Violet kneels down in front of the leader as Marlon handcuffed him, “It’s ironic for you to say those as you’re getting arrested, fucking stupid.”

“Getting arrested while I’m fucking bleeding!”, the leader hisses as he is being forced to stand up.

The bounty hunter didn’t focus on the distant conversation as she checks the remaining bullets of the rifle, _three_ , she thought to herself. She looks down to the fallen criminals who got dragged by the side and the Marshal is talking among the other miners looking relieved, while Violet at the side appears to be confronting a redhead woman who got held at direct gunpoint earlier.

Moments later, Clementine sees the redhead looks relaxed and the women nodded to each other. As the redhead goes to Louis at the side, the blonde looked up where the bounty hunter is sitting by the high path and gives an approving smile, in which she returns. Violet tilts her head by her right side, where the outside is as she was directing the bounty hunter to wait outside.

The brunette gives a sharp nod and stands up, walking down to the narrow path.

* * *

Clementine helped the lawmen bringing the handcuffed bandits to Marlon’s cart, even their thighs got patched by wrapping with a spare dirty handkerchief around, they were still stubborn and struggling to lead them. Unfortunately, the leader is unwilling to cooperate with the lawmen until Violet threw hard punches on his gut and kicks to his shin to make up his mind and cooperate until Louis begs her to stop. Even the blonde is annoyed with his pacifist perspective as a lawman, she just shrugs it off and dragged the bandit leader to the cart like he’s weightless.

After the bandits are locked in the caged cart and Clementine returns the rifle to the marshal, Marlon gave the bag of confiscated gear and weapons from the bandits to Louis.

“Make sure you lock the storage door after you left, I still remember your forgetful ass in leaving the damn door open.”, Marlon dictated that makes Louis groans, “Don’t remind me about that shit, Marlon.”

“Of course he has to remind your dumbassery, Lou.”, Violet acknowledged as she hops on her horse, “Couldn’t forget Marlon’s expression as he discovered that the storage door was left unlocked.”

“Damn.” Louis simply said, felt defeated.

The four slowly galloped off from the mines to proceed back to the city, as Clementine expected its mission was accomplished, a wave of big relief for no intense casualties happened except for Louis’s arm got shot. Looking up to the darkened blue sky, showing that it’s almost dawn.

Marlon is slowly galloping at the front at a slightly slower pace since he was carrying an occupied cart behind, while Clementine is at the back of the cart to watch, she’s not alone.

She sees Violet at her right side, green eye intensely focused on the cart and her knuckles white from gripping the reins too hard. “Are you okay, Violet?”, Clementine asks in concern and Violet deeply sighs and her grip loosens, “That fat fuck is getting on my nerves from all the shit he said back in the mines.”

“I know those words mean nothing at all especially from a fucking bandit, but fucking hell,” the deputy turns her head to the bounty hunter, then quickly turns her head away.

“No biggies, Violet.”, Louis interjected in his cheery tone, galloping at Clementine’s left side, “How about a lovely evaluation from our performance earlier?”

“Oh my fucking god, Louis-“, Violet annoyed protests got cut off from Louis’s whistling like war trumpets, “You got a B-plus performance there, Vi. You could’ve done better.”

“What the fuck?” The blonde looks at the brunette like she has seen him doing that nauseates her, “I’m doing my job as a damn deputy _marshal_ , thank you very much.”

Louis dramatically gasps, “B-minus then from that attitude.” He turns his attention to Clementine, “Clementine, however, it’s a solid A! Man, your rifle skills are hella scary that gives me a friendly reminder to step away from empty bottles in your shooting practices.”

The bounty hunter ghosts a smirk from Louis’s overwhelming compliment for her, however, she can see Violet being serious again by focusing on the moving cart in front of them.

_‘I must light up the mood for her.’_

She worked up her courage then stated: “You kick ass there, Violet.” The blonde turns her head to Clementine in a subtle way and the brunette continues, “You stood up a risky move against the bandit, but at least you didn’t put your guard down, A-plus.”

Violet looks at Clementine with a small smile on her face then looks away, “I know.”

While the women are smiling at each other, Louis hums to himself, “You both delusional.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have criticisms abt my writing and more of the old west that i interpreted are inaccurate or missing, commenting abt those are super appreciated.
> 
> if you have questions or see future artworks abt this fic, you can vibe in my tumblr [agent-gei.tumblr.com] if you want.


	4. Ace of Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the bounty hunter and her apprentice are settling in Ericsons, the lawmen wouldn't hold back to know more about the mysterious gunslinger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took almost 2 weeks to finish because the dialogue wasn't my thing (and have to proof-read so many times to make everything right). i hope shit wasnt that boring to read.

Small talks about the bounty hunter’s curiosity of the workers’ schedule in the mines to Louis’s teasing remarks to the women, they finally made it back to the city where illuminating streetlights brightened up. The residents started to lay back from their workplaces to their homes and adults started to walk into the saloon with their loud laughter. Every time Clementine sees ordinary people are having a good time and relaxed in their homes, she couldn’t help but feel at peace.

From the corner of her eye, she sees two boys sitting across by the picnic table in front of the occupied saloon. A familiar boy with a trimmed afro, AJ, propped his elbows on the table to watch the other boy with his burnt scar around his side, Tenn, scribbling with precise directions on a paper with his pencil.

The older boy raised his head to Violet upon her arrival then to Clementine, in which he started mumbling to AJ that makes the younger boy quickly turned around then waved his arm to the bounty hunter. His mentor simply returns with a single wave and noticed that the lawmen have already parked their horses by the stable. She sees Louis walked into the sheriff’s building to store the confiscated gear while Marlon and Violet are conversing outside of the stable, specifically in front of the marshal’s horse.

As Clementine carefully parks her horse due to the attached cart behind, the brunette overheard the conversation of the marshals, “So you’re saying you’ll bring them to Alexandria?”, Violet gestures to the caged cart where Marlon’s horse was attached, “For what, exactly?”

“They have a bounty there specifically for those bandits, I saw their flyers.”, Marlon crossed his arms, and the deputy isn’t buying it by furrowing her eyebrows, “Bounty for what? More resources or your dirty money? Fucking christ Marlon, what’s with this suspicious crap you’ve been doing lately?”

Before Marlon responded, Violet stormed off to the sheriff’s building. Clementine hopped off from her horse and walked to Marlon, who’s pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“Disagreements?”, the bounty hunter inquires, and the marshal simply sighs and lowers his hand, “Yeah, we can’t keep the criminals in the cells anymore, and bringing the bandits in Alexandria for bounty isn’t a bad idea.”

“Why not here?”

Marlon took off his hat and stroke his blonde bangs off his forehead, “The cells are in the basement, turned into a storage room.”, he then thoughtfully hums, “I mean, it’s been a while since we brought criminals here. It might take forever to move all the shit from the basement.”

Clementine crossed her arms, “You should’ve taken responsibility for that, a trip to Alexandria takes a whole day.”

“I know, which is why I’ll bring them off alone after the supper.”, he pressed his back up against the cart as he trails off, “So yes, I’ll go off alone and let Violet handle the city until tomorrow while I’m going off tonight.”

As the brunette questions further, Louis walked out from the sheriff’s building with a confused expression, “What’s up with Vi? She’s walking up to her office like her boots are heavy.”

“We just had some…disagreement.”, Marlon shrugged like he’s unsure what he’s saying then turned to Clementine, “And since you mention her going up to her office, she might be getting her rifle for the bounty hunter.”

“I see,” the woman looks up to the sheriff’s building, sees a lit-up window where must Violet’s office then eyes Marlon with a quirked eyebrow, “You mention _‘supper’_ earlier, so this town eats together?”

“What a lovely question,” Louis jumps over the porch and rests his forearm on Clementine’s shoulder, “Yes, and why won’t you join us in supper by the saloon? You must be starving as hell right now.”

The bounty hunter politely pushes his arm away, “Is that fine for you?”

“Well yeah, I wouldn’t mind our soon-to-be-living-here guest eating with us.” Marlon walks past the two, heading to the saloon, “Come on, you don’t want your boy to be waiting.”

“What a way to say it, Marlon.”, Louis laughs and follows the marshal behind, “Don’t worry about Vi, she’ll catch up late to the supper.”

She lightly nods her head and blindly walks to the saloon across the street. The bounty hunter’s thoughts drifted about AJ, who is enjoying his bond with Tenn earlier and he might make up his impressions to the other residents beforehand.

She suddenly remembers the encounter with the Delta men last night, almost putting AJ in danger. Even he’s already old enough that he can do what Clementine mostly do; socializing, shooting with different kinds of guns, and even encountering unique people, she couldn’t help herself but have a desire to make AJ be like a normal kid and not let him involve any more of her bounty work.

Unfortunately, she swore a promise to AJ from that night to let her apprentice protect her in any dangerous situation. However, Clementine got an idea about Ericson as her permanent home with AJ just like what he wanted in the first place.

A big bonus for her that this city is secluded unlike the others she’s been through.

_'I’ll ask Marlon if we can live here, then settle with a payment.’_

Clementine walked up to the porch and go to the picnic table with Tenn and AJ. Enduring the rowdy background noise from the saloon, she leans over the older boy and her apprentice noticed her presence, “Hey Clem, Tenn is a good artist!”, the background noise from the saloon has gone silent as she heard AJ’s voice.

It seems Tenn doesn’t mind the bounty hunter to look over his work with a muddy yellow paper containing a rough sketch of AJ’s face. He gives gentle strokes over the cheeks as the shadow to give depth to his illustration and started to add more details to the hair.

Impressed with his artistic skills, the bounty hunter comments, “You’re good at this Tenn, definitely looks like AJ.”

“Thank you,” Tenn chimed, “I’ve never seen someone like AJ so excited about art before, especially in sketching.”

“All I’ve seen are paintings of mountains by old people and it’s boring,” AJ rests his head over his arm on the table, “And Tenn draws me! It’s cool!”

Clementine lightly shakes her head, _‘He gets excited when something involves him, like that drawing for example.’_

“Not really, but drawing you is fun.” Tenn turns his head to the bounty hunter, “What about you Clementine, can I draw you?”

Shocked as it was the first time that an artist is happily willing to draw her, she half-shrug and answered, “Sure.”

“Can you sit beside AJ? I’ll do a simple construction of your face,” Tenn pulls out a new piece of paper from his bag underneath the table, “It’s just a quickie, I promise. You guys need to eat for the supper after all.”

Clementine walks around the table and promptly hovers her legs around the chair, still cautious about her abdomen. She scoots toward AJ and raises her head to Tenn, who’s looking back and forth between the paper and the bounty hunter. While the boy is focused on the paper, she moved her eyes down while holding her posture, Tenn is doing feather-light lines that faintly resembles Clementine’s portraiture from her hat to her vest.

“All done with my construction,” Tenn raised his head looking at the two, “This might take a while to finish.”

“Yep,” AJ nudged the woman’s arm with his elbow, “He’s slower when someone is watching.”

“Which is why you guys can go ahead in the saloon.”, Tenn responded without looking up to the two, focused on his sketch, “Don’t worry, I’ll be eating here with Violet.”

“Okay, I’m hungry anyway.”, AJ slides off from his seat and walks over to the door. Clementine, however, asked him with one remark: “It seems only you and Violet are eating outside?”

The boy nodded, “Violet prefers to stay outside in social gatherings and she’s only a fan of quiet places unless she got called in for drinking. I agree with her quiet part because I need to focus on drawing, it’s peaceful.”

“An anti-social deputy marshal…” the bounty hunter trails off, “That’s new to me.”

“Clem! Come on!”, she heard AJ shouting over the crowd of noises in the saloon, “The stew’s about to be cold!”

“AJ’s waiting for you, Clementine.”, Tenn remarked, which makes the brunette shrugged and walked into the saloon.

For some reason, Violet’s unpredictable traits and behavior struck in her mind.

* * *

She couldn’t remember the last time she ate a really tasty stew made from bear and hare meat.

Before getting her bowl served, of course, Louis wouldn’t shut up about Omar as he was behind the counter bickering. As the cheerful man described Omar as Ericson’s _‘chef’_ who made the stew in a big pot that the bounty hunter has never seen before, cooked all by himself with the help of the hunters for the meat.

“We do have plenty of saloons across the town for other various meals, but that’s a long time ago. This is the only saloon we mainly use because it’s size fits for the whole townspeople.”, Louis remarked Clementine as she asks about the other saloons in Ericsons.

After a short conversation, Clementine sat beside AJ, which coincidentally Marlon, Louis, and Ruby by the table near the bar. She hasn’t met Ruby before, a freckled southern woman that allegedly AJ has bitten on is still bitter from the events earlier in that day not until she got an apology from the boy’s mentor.

“Oh sug, I can see he’s… quite rowdy for his age,” Ruby stated while staring down to her stew, “I mean, you two on a road from time to time? It gives me an idea that AJ hasn’t talked or been close to anyone else, no?”

“Unfortunately,” Clementine fiddles her spoon in between her fingers, “No matter how many times I told him not to bite anyone, he’s still stubborn as ever.”

“I just don’t like getting snuck up from behind.”, AJ huffs and crosses his arms.

“AJ…”, the brunette glares at AJ who’s looking away from her.

Noticing the different aura between them, Ruby cleared her throat and stood up, “I better be goin’ now, and thank you Clementine and AJ for the honesty and apology, that’s ‘nough for me.”

The bounty hunter gives a small smile to the redhead and walks off. Eventually, everyone at the table went silent to continue eating until AJ finishes his meal by chugging it down from the bowl and burps out loud.

“Excuse me.”, the boy lowers the ceramic from his mouth, “Are there any more?”

Clementine remembers they only get one serving due to the stew being made equally for everyone in the town, “Sorry kiddo, that’s all they can give.”

AJ frowns at that statement, Louis however, pushed his bowl with only half of the stew’s serving left towards the boy, “You can have the rest of mine, AJ.”

Clementine looks at him, “Are you sure?”

“Yep,” Louis leans back against his chair, “Besides, I’m hella full already.”

“It’s because you begged for the beef jerky earlier,” Marlon laughed while abandoning his spoon on the empty bowl, “If Omar finds out you didn’t finish your meal, he’ll be pretty pissed since you won’t stop bothering him earlier.”

“Don’t snitch on me like that.” Louis shakes his head whole standing up to flip his chair over, both his arms resting on its top rail, “I blame my weird appetite.”

Marlon scoffs before he takes a spoonful, “What a weird excuse.”

While the two lawmen are joking and teasing each other at the other side of the table, the bounty hunter turns her head to the windowsill. She recognized Tenn eating his stew while looking at someone in front of him, where the other side of the picnic table shows a familiar blonde with an eyepatch talking inaudibly from where Clementine is. She noticed that both Tenn and Violet were smiling, which must be an easing conversation with each other despite the deputy’s long stressful day.

Trying to focus on finishing her meal, Clementine started to wonder _why did she care about that woman so much?_

“You gotta be the slowest eater ever, Clementine.”, Louis joked as the brunette releases her spoon and creates a clattering ceramic noise, “You’re hella thoughtful, as I could say.”

“More like distracted.”, the bounty hunter rubs her nape then pushes her bowl away to Marlon, who’s stacking up the ceramics and cleaning up the table. Louis, on the other hand, pulls out a stack of playing cards from the pocket of his coat, “Since we’re all finished filling our stomachs, time for something… very important.”

“Oh god,” an unfamiliar southern feminine voice says in disgust behind Clementine, who sees the same woman who got held hostage back in the mines walking out to the door, “Goodnight.”

“Hey, Vi! It’s time!”, the lawman shouts by the window where Violet promptly looks at him then stood up and walked into the saloon while holding two stacked bowls.

The marshal returns by his seat, “What’s the game tonight, Lou?”

“Poker?”, the bounty hunter asks that makes Louis stopped shuffling his cards, “Oh fuck no, we’re not gonna go through again.”

“What a shocker.”, Violet distantly exclaims while going to the counter of the bar.

“No wonder you couldn’t afford to hire a photographer at this moment,” Marlon leans by the table with both his forearms resting, “We should have a shoot by that time, but you’re cocky as the fucking coyotes.”

“Damn it.”, Louis mumbles as he started to slowly shuffles his cards, “The game tonight is War, familiar with it?”, he shifts his attention to Clementine.

“Yeah,” the bounty hunter takes off her hat and lays it on the empty chair beside, “Played it with my old friends back then, doesn’t end well.”

“Such a simple card game always ended up pretty shit when one of you has a temper problem.”, Louis paced up his shuffling, “But this time, no bets or whatnot.”

“Well good.”, Violet added while walking to the table with a bottle of unlabeled alcohol and four glasses, “Because I rather drown in whiskey than hearing you cry that you lost from the easiest game.”

While the deputy is distributing the glasses, Louis gives a skeptical look to her, “Did you pay for that?”

“Of course, why the fuck would I steal this whiskey in my town?”, Violet twists the cap over the seal, “Five bucks wouldn’t hurt.”

“How generous of you.”, the bounty hunter takes her glass while ghosting a smile to the deputy, “But out of all the brands there, you chose this unlabeled one?”

“It’s been there for a while and its label was off before you came here,” Violet pours the drink on each half a glass, “Familiar brand, so no need to worry about getting poisoned or something.”

“Of course!” Louis recalls, “Among the three of us lawmen, you’re the alcoholic one.” Violet rolled her eye while he distributes the cards, “Without the bets ruining the night, whoever wins a round gets to ask Clem a question.”

Noticed an unsettling gaze from the bounty hunter, “What?”, the lawman stops with his surprised expression, “I want to get to know you, we all do.”, he gestures to the nodding deputies.

“What if I win?”, Clementine crossed her arms against the table.

“Then you get to ask us one, it’s only fair.”, Louis takes a quick sip from his glass and continues to distribute the cards.

“Wait,” Clementine turns her head to where AJ is recently seated but didn’t see him, “What about AJ?”

“What about him?”, Marlon looked at the window and Clementine follows along, “Looks like he’s made a friend.”

Excited-looking AJ leans over to Tenn who’s supposedly drawing, which makes Clementine ghosts a smile to the boys.

“C’mon, you can take your eyes off him for one card game,” Marlon continues while holding his glass, “You two might need to take a break from each other.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”, the brunette sighs as she swigs in the whiskey, “Fuck, it’s nice that a teenager like him found someone to get along with so easily… sometimes he acts like an adult than any teenager I knew.”

A soft thud from Violet slamming her glass on the table after a quarter of whiskey left, “I’m glad him and Tenn are getting along, that scarred boy must be tired of an old lady hanging around with him.”

“So Louis, if you would?”, Marlon gestures to the resting lawman who flips his card over, “Also Vi, being 27’s not that old.”

“Three years before 30.”, Violet answered after Marlon flips his card. She followed suit and lastly, Clementine flips her card, reveals her ten of clubs.

Louis’s five of spades, Marlon’s six of diamonds, and Violet’s jack of hearts.

The deputy won the round.

“Alright,” Violet’s surprised tone caught her off guard while clears her throat and filling her glass, “So about AJ…”

She awkwardly looks at the boy outside and the waiting bounty hunter back-to-back, which makes Clementine eyes Marlon who’s focused on the deputy, “Where are AJ’s parents?”

“You two don’t look related so… what happened there?”, Violet finishes before Clementine answers truthfully. She remembers her early tense conversations with Rebecca and aloof ones with Alvin before shit went down with the infamous gunslinger, Carver back then. Alvin got beaten into pulp just to push him away from an unfaithful affair.

“His dad got killed by some asshole.”, The brunette hesitantly trails off.

Violet sighs sadly, “And his mom?”

Even she and the rest of the crew had gotten away and got Carver killed, Rebecca couldn’t make it through childbirth despite the living condition she’s in.

“Long story, sad story.”, is all she can say. Violet noticed Louis reluctantly shakes his head to her and flips his card, while others follow along.

Clementine sees that her hand is a queen of clubs, confident that she won the round as she looked at the other’s cards that are only single digits.

“Hey, I win.”, the bounty hunter takes a slow sip while Louis agrees, “You do, so what do you want to know?”

She took another sip to help her brain occupied with one valuable question as her throat slightly burns, then Clementine suddenly blurted, “So what’s your role as a lawman, Louis?”

“Well shit,” Violet snorted, “You better answer that one, no-badge-lawman.”

“I’m the town’s lovely sheriff.”, Louis declares before picking up his glass, “If you’re wondering where’s my badge, it’s in my coat.”

Marlon ranted as he finishes his glass, “The badge belongs on the fucking coat, not inside it!”

“It ruins my overall look.”, Louis pensively complains as he nudges into his seat. Violet snickers, “A dramatic playboy who happens to be a sheriff, who would’ve thought?”

The bounty hunter blinks to the sheriff, “I don’t think being a pacifist gets you anywhere, Louis. Especially with your position and all.”

“Listen to the bounty hunter, Mister Sulieman.” The deputy gushed over to the offended sheriff, who just sadly flips his card over and finishes his remaining whiskey.

The following round, Louis got his highest card with the king of spades, “Hell yeah!”

He gives the eye to Clementine then looks away, lowered both of his arms to his sides. “Come on, spit it out.”, Violet urged from the background.

“So, uh…”, Louis stuttered while nervously rubs his neatly trimmed hair, “Ever had a boyfriend?”

The bounty hunter’s eyes widened and heard a thud against the table followed by Violet’s groans, “Oh my fucking god…”

“It happens, perfectly valid question!”, Louis defended.

“Never.”, Clementine slowly shakes her head. Louis gives a doubtful look, “Not even once?”

“Never.”, she harshly repeated and proceeds to flip her card, ignoring the sheriff’s gloomy look at her.

In the next round, Marlon won with his eight of diamonds.

“Ha, I win.”, the marshal fixed his look to the brunette, “So, Clem… how long were you been as a bounty hunter?”

“Before I got the badge,” Clementine takes a swig, “I started to do dirty bounty work when I was thirteen.”

“Holy shit.”, Louis gasped.

“Illegal stuff, for the sake of AJ.” She taps her finger against the table thoughtfully, “Almost became an outlaw since then, the youngest gunslinger.”

“How old were you when you first got a badge?”, Violet tensely asked.

“Nineteen.”, the brunette nodded to herself as she was convincing herself that it happened before, “Got it in Richmond, the mayor himself doesn’t want me to be an outlaw in the west… but it’s too late for me with my existing awful reputation.”

The bounty hunter noticed the lawmen looking uncomfortable or fascinated by the fact she’s been exposed a lot since an early age, she flips her card to move on and the lawmen do the same.

Clementine got an ace of hearts.

“Lucky you,” Marlon sips his newly filled glass then cleared his throat, “Ask away.”

She considered to Violet, with the curious question that’s been occupied since day one.

“What happened to your right eye?”, Clementine becomes direct, scanning Violet who slightly tilts her head, “It’s okay if you don’t want to answer—”

“Got shot.”, Violet shrugged then swigs, quickly lowers her glass against the table, “Happened six years ago, a lot of shit happened back then.”

“No offense to Vi, but behind that eyepatch is nasty.”, Louis quivers from his seat.

“Is that so?”, Violet smirks and raises her hand to her eyepatch, “Sounds like you miss what it looks like, Lou.”

The blonde holds her patch and directly turns her head to the disgusted sheriff. As she was about to pull the patch up, Louis cowardly looks away, “Fuck no!”

“Stop being a crybaby,” She lets go of her patch and wheezes, “Gets me every time, especially your first reaction back then.”

The soon-to-be drink adults joking around in the card game, the rest of the rounds mostly ended up the bounty hunter losing. From personal and serious ones like the victims she killed before became a licensed bounty hunter and the places, she’s been traveled to goofy ones from Louis like has she fought a bear before and her involvement with men. One question that struck her is with Marlon: “Do you have any plans in staying here? Like as your permanent home?”

It confirms that the marshal himself welcomes a bounty hunter with a shady past and an orphaned boy to stay in the unspecified city. Eventual exchanges between them about finances of their remote house where she and AJ are staying, Louis in his intoxicated state, abruptly asked an extremely personal question: “Ever had to kill someone you loved?”

That causes between Marlon and Louis in a contend conversation while Clementine pondered for the answer. She exhaled with, “Lee. His name was Lee. It was the same day I found out my parents were dead.”

“That… sounds like a rough day.”, Louis stammered.

Clementine holds back her sobs, “Yeah. Worst day of my life.”

That leads to a deafening silence between four adults until the bounty hunter pushes herself off from the chair, “I think I’m done playing for tonight.”

She stood up and looks between the three lawmen, “Thanks for the drink, appreciate it.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”, Marlon mumbled then gives Louis a grim look.

"What?! You wanted me to ask."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back then, alcohol is cheaper.
> 
> ps; certain dialogue are based from my choices in the game.


	5. 1870

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding abandoned belongings in their new property, curiosity killed a cat.

“Let’s go, AJ,” Clementine calls him from across the picnic table. The boy stared at his mentor and she responded by grabbing the bag then nods. AJ turns back to Tenn, “Um, good night.”

He shifted his legs around the bench before waiting for Tenn’s response, “Night, AJ.”

The two walks off the porch of the saloon then heard incoming rapid footsteps from the doorway. Clementine sees Marlon catching up to her and exhales, “Long day, huh?”

“Yup. Real long.”

“I hope you know Louis didn’t mean any harm there,” Marlon recalls while walking alongside the brunette, “He’s just a world’s biggest dumbass. He’s my best bud, so I can legally call him that.”

He bolted ahead and stops in front of Clementine, who stops on her tracks along with AJ. The marshal reaches into his coat and pulls out a ring of keys, “About your place, I have decided which place you’re staying.”

“I thought about it after I heard you and AJ traveled from one place to another nonstop.” He reaches out the keys to her, “Someone used to live there, and of course it was long abandoned as they never came back.”

Clementine hesitantly grabs the keys, “Are you sure? What about the payment—”

“We’ll finalize the payment by tomorrow morning in the town hall, no need to worry about it.” the blonde quickly interrupts, “You guys relax, get some sleep, feel human for tonight.”

“We can stay?”, AJ pleaded. Marlon gives the boy a small smile, “Of course, your mentor and I will talk about it, you know, adult stuff.”

“I know that.”, the boy trills, and the woman look at the keys, “Where’s this house?”

“Walk down that alley,” he points to the alleyway between the saloon and the unfamiliar building, “You can see the two-story building with its balcony, that’s the house you’re staying in.”

Clementine thanks Marlon, then he gives a pat on her shoulder, “Don’t mention it.”

The marshal walks off back to the saloon while the two cautiously stroll by the alleyway that is littered with metal scraps and welding materials. As they passed by and made it to the other street that wasn’t as crowded as the main street, Clementine noticed that the occupied properties are scattered across in between the abandoned and worn-down houses.

Among all the houses, she found the only two-story building that has a small balcony above the porch that’s in between two vacant similar houses.

The two cross the street and they carefully observed the abandoned property, as if they aren’t properly maintained with accumulated dust across the porches and glass windows. Furniture like rocking chairs and decorations are still around in the properties including her’s with a lone chair by the porch.

“The house looks suspicious.” AJ thought out loud.

“Marlon mentioned that people ran off from this town long before we came here.” Clementine walks up to the porch and found the light switch beside the doorframe. She flicks it and the entire porch was lit up with a single lightbulb in the middle of the ceiling. The brunette scrambles the keys to find the fitting one for the doorknob, “He vaguely explains that something happened back then, explaining the lack of townspeople here.”

“Vaguely?”

“It means it’s not clear.”

“Huh. Weird.”

Clementine finally found the key out of five of those that perfectly fit the keyhole and twists clockwise, then opens the knob and pushes the door in. The two walks into a supposedly living room, the porch light barely illuminates through the windows but gives off the silhouettes of leather chairs, coffee table, cabinets, and even frames on the wall by the side of the left side of the room.

Getting lost from her reviewing the darkroom, the lights suddenly went on that makes Clementine blinks from the sudden lights.

“Sorry Clem,” AJ curiously walks by the brick fireplace at the right side of the room, “I found a switch there, so I thought it’ll be a good idea to turn it on.”

“No, no, no need to worry about it.”, she rubs her eyes then distinguished the living room clearly. Brown leather chairs with a small coffee table that are littered with vandalized confederate books.

**_‘cracker pieces of shits’_ **

**_‘aren’t we crackers too?’_ **

**_‘yeah, but these confederates think people like Tenn don’t deserve rights’_ **

**_‘hah, fuck them’_**

That gives Clementine a small chuckle, _‘I don’t know if AJ needs to see this…’_

She picked up the books and wipe off the excess dust in the spacious row of a shelf, then neatly slides the books in those until the corners reached the wall. Further observation on the empty cabinets beside the bookshelf and small landscape paintings occupy the rest of the sturdy wall.

The brunette eyes to the right side see a dining table fitted with four chairs that are occupied with few neatly stacked pots and plates as if multiple people used to live here. By the side shows a small empty cabinet that is meant for kitchenware along with a small island, then a brick fireplace with burnt used logs in between the furniture.

 _‘Wow, this house has everything already.’_ Clementine deducted as she placed her bag by the dining table, _‘Fucking finally.’_

“I’ll check upstairs,” the boy scurried off to the stairs by the corner. The woman wonders how this house doesn’t have its back door while arranging and return the house’s kitchenware and a few of her’s in the empty cabinet followed by placing her canned goods on the island. Doing so loosens the weight of her bag, leaving only her and AJ’s clothes, money and ammunition as she closed it and hoist it up to her left shoulder.

 _‘I’ve never pulled out that much of my stuff before, everything feels light._ ’ She walked to the front door and absently flicked the porch light off, _‘I’m glad we finally settled in this unknown town. But need to check upstairs first, AJ spends a lot of time there and hasn’t come back here.’_

Clementine locked the front door behind and strolls up to the creaking stairs, the rails and boards have collected dust like the rest of the interior except AJ’s footprints scrapped around it. Her small walk up the stairs didn’t take long before she found AJ lying on the bed at the edge of the room with his hat and both of his boots are lazily plopped down at the side of the bed frame.

There was an unoccupied bed at the other side with a stack of leaning canvases at the foot of it. Meanwhile, at AJ’s side, there was a sturdy looking desk with a leather bag and a lit-up lantern beside it, followed by a tall wardrobe beside the staircase where she’s standing. She faced the front and sees a thin door for the balcony in the middle of the wall in between the beds.

“There’s a bag on the desk.”, AJ sat up, “I don’t look through this room much because I’m waiting for you to look through it yourself.”

“I mean, no one owned this place,” Clementine dropped her bag by the foot of the desk, “They must’ve left their belongings behind too.”, she examined the leather case, **_Cleaning Kit_ **is what it’s engraved at the low center of it. The brunette flips it to the side, reveals a set of small brushes and needles with long handles, the tools look rarely used judging by the brushes’ clean bristles and unscratched needles.

“What is it?”, AJ scoots closer to his mentor who’s also distantly observing the bag.

“It looks like a gun cleaning kit,” Clementine pulls out the largest brush among the set, “It is, but it’s only being used for rifles.”

“How can you tell?”

“Long handles, perfect for cleaning the barrel easily.”

The boy pulled out his revolver from his holster, “Can it be used for my gun?”

“I’m not sure kiddo,” Clementine returns the brush in the case, “I don’t think it’s meant for handguns like your revolver, might be tricky to use with.”

“I see,” AJ lowers his gun in agreement. Clementine left the case as open as it is before proceeding to check the long drawer by the desk. She pulled its wooden handle shows a long thick photo album, it’s hardcover is layered with brown cloth and its bindings are made out of thick yellow threads that are discolored.

**_‘Photos of Ericsons; 1865 – 1870’_**

“What’s that?”

The woman walks by AJ’s bed and sits on the edge, laying the photo album on her lap so the boy could see, “A photo album, the cover, and bindings look handmade.”, Clementine slowly opens the album, hearing the crusting paper as she carefully flips the first page. She eyes three photo portraits with the bold calligraphy **_‘Ericson’s Lawmen 1870’_ ** at the top center of the page.

**_‘Ericson’s City Marshal: Marlon Chase, 1870’_ ** is typewritten at the bottom of the first portrait, a younger Marlon with his short side-parted haircut. The most noticeable feature he had was his thin mustache and stubble by his chin and his fierce-looking eyes focused on the camera with ¾ angle of his face. Despite the lack of colors, Clementine could tell that he has a different kind of white coat than his recent one.

“Marlon looks weird with that mustache…”, AJ mutters, “I prefer what he looks like right now.”

**_‘Ericson’s Deputy Marshal: Minerva Leigh, 1870’_ ** is typewritten by the second portrait shows the unfamiliar pale woman with a light-colored short, layered hairstyle. Her affectionate-looking gazes at the camera are softer compare to Marlon’s _(even her eye color was like the marshal’s based on the values of the photos)_. Minerva has a cut scar across the middle of her left eyebrow that looks recently healed and freckles scattered across her cheeks and nose. Her small smirk gives the portrait an unprofessional look comparing the other formal photos she’s seen but it gives the impression that their previous deputy is lighthearted like Louis.

“So that’s their deputy before Violet?”, AJ asks while pointing to Minerva’s portrait, “Looks like she’s wearing the same outfit as Violet’s.”

Clementine studies her outfit: A light-colored plain bandana wrapped around her neck that covers her collarbone and popped out the collar of her blouse.

“I just noticed that.”

**_‘Ericson’s Sheriff: Violet Adlon, 1870’_ **, is typewritten by the third and final portrait of the page shows a younger Violet with her more sunken cheekbones and shoulder-length hair. Her right eye is almost covered with her blonde bangs but both of her gentle eyes gaze at the camera. Her face was front faced like Minerva’s, except her mouth, is stayed as flat and neutral. Just like Marlon’s, her outfit is completely different with her dark vest and popped out the collar of her blouse.

“Violet has both of her eyes here,” the boy hums, “She looked way different unlike Marlon, like her dark circles aren’t that deep and her cheeks are skinny.”

Clementine squints her eyes from recollecting back in the card game earlier, her curious question for Violet.

**“Got shot. Happened six years ago, a lot of shit happened back then.”**

_‘Today is ’76, does that mean the era somewhere in that photo album is when Ericson’s fall apart?’_

“Look,” AJ’s voice snapped Clementine out from her thoughts, “There are more photos of them.”

Hearing a flipped paper underneath, it shows more photos of the lawmen with their solo shoots that show off their various poses. Next are the group photos, that Clementine got her knowledge where Marlon and Minerva are on their same height and Violet only reaches to their shoulders. The more AJ flipped the pages, the more photographs of familiar people she sees like younger Louis playing the same piano by the saloon with Minerva sitting beside him, Ruby taking care of an ill horse, Omar and the other taller dark-skinned man holding up a snared hare, and Violet aiming up her rifle with a slouched, uncomfortable position as a rookie.

The last few pages show a portrait of Minerva only in her blouse and the other woman who looked the same as Minerva but with longer hair and cleaner face, must be her twin, along with younger Tenn at the center in between the twins.

**_Minerva, Tennessee, Sophie Leigh 1870_**

“Tenn has older sisters who are twins,” Clementine spoke up while letting AJ take the photo album from her, then she felt a thin piece of paper slipped off underneath the portrait and reluctantly takes it.

The boy spoke up, “I haven’t seen them yet.”

The brunette smoothes off the yellowed paper that contains small cursive handwriting with the similar calligraphy as the first page.

**_Hey Minnie, this is the photo that I requested Lou to print off for Ma and Pa. As unsure as we were if they made it from civil war, I want them to know how much of a lovely boy Tenn has grown! Seeing him so passionate about art makes my heart melt so much as how Vi admires your singing and guitar skills (how blasphemous!)._ **

**_I hope we’ll keep him as it is, despite his parent’s tragic fate back in the cotton fields._ **

**_Also! I’ll keep this photo in the album before you send it to the mail service because I’m damn exhausted from making this album, or else I’ll faint and cover myself with oil paint all over my hair!_ **

**_From your artistic sister, Sophie_**

The bounty hunter scrunches her nose in reflex from the fact she was reading an unsent letter. She slyly folded and slipped the letter under the photo, then sighs in relief as AJ didn’t question what’s on that letter since he was too distracted from looking at the photo album.

Clementine wondered what happened to the twins.

She shifts her eyes to the leaning canvases by the foot of the vacant bed. The woman walks and kneels over, carefully picking up each of them. Dried oil paintings with glued papers that the back of each canvases’ names and captions like **_‘Ericson’s Mines (noisy, won’t recommend)’_ ** , **_‘Sunset (I hear arguments behind me)’_ ** , **_‘Minnie’s Horse (Lou is annoying me)’_ ** , **_‘Stampede (Minnie and Vi doing their job to control the herd)’_ ** , **_‘Sleeping Marlon (his mustache is funny)’_ **

The last and lighter canvas caught her attention, a gouache painting of a red-haired woman with her white blouse and high-waisted pants and the blonde skinnier woman in a similar outfit sitting by the coastline by their backs. Unlike the oil paintings, the blending method isn’t present in this gouache painting, but forms are present due to different values in certain places. Unfortunately, the painting’s saturation has darkened from years of collecting dust and the lack of varnish. She flipped the canvas over for the label but it’s much lengthier than the previous paintings.

**_For Violet and Minnie, Happy 1st Anniversary for you two! I’ve never been this proud about your relationship ever since the first I figured out about you two (heh.). The painting is inspired by the overheard conversation of you two want to go to beaches in the south (please don’t kill me for that!)_ **

**_For a serious message of this gift, from the country’s prejudices against homosexuals like you two, let me be the first person to tell them to fuck off._ **

**_Stay happy and safe for both of you, from Sophie._**

The newly absorbed information that Violet used to have an affair with another woman before, she thoughtfully nods as she flipped the canvas over to look at the painting again. Before she lowers the canvas to its original place, Clementine heard steady footsteps from the staircase that makes her stayed where she is while AJ is still minding his own business.

The feminine silhouette by the top of the staircase reveals a surprised Violet holding a rifle in her left hand.

“Shit,” The blonde eyes between Clementine and AJ, “I-I didn’t know Marlon set you up in this property.”

“How did you get in here?”, AJ questions.

“I have the extra keys,” Violet pulls out a similar ring of keys by her holster.

Following the lack of response from the two, the blonde shifts her eye away from Clementine then proceeds to the wardrobe, “I just wanted to grab something from the dresser.”

The two exchange their looks from each other while the older woman clicks her tongue as she opens the wardrobe, reveals it was empty, “Where the hell is it?”

She turned while shaking her head in frustration, her green eye wandered around aimlessly but stopped as she sees the opened cleaning kit on the desk.

“Oh.”, Violet spoke.

“What?”, Clementine blinked to the case then to the rifle Violet’s holding, “Oh, the kit’s your’s?”

“Yeah, the kit for this rifle.”, the blonde raises up the rifle a bit for emphasis, “Sorry it took a while to give you the bounty, I just need to give it a clean for it to work flawlessly again.”

The brunette crosses her arms then stared at the rifle, “When’s the last time you used it?”

“Maybe five years ago.”, she walked to the desk and placed her rifle down, “Haven’t used it ever since, it’s been collecting dust.”, Violet raised her head to AJ who’s looking at her with the photo album on his lap, “That 1870’s photo album… I thought Lou had it with him.”

“Oh! Sorry,” Clementine lowered her hands, “We didn’t know it’s not meant for us to look...”

“No, no. It’s fine, really.” Violet sags her shoulders then waves her hand, “It looks like it’s been sitting in here for years and no one bothered to get it.”

Violet pulls back the chair and sits on it, “You guys can keep it, as a momento or a history lesson about Ericsons.”

The boy shifts closer to the foot of the bed, “Are you sure? You guys don’t have extra of it?”

“Lou has plenty of photos with him, and that album specifically is made and owned by Sophie.”, noticed an obvious silent response from the two, Violet quickly added, “Uh… Tenn’s sister. I seriously wouldn’t mind someone like you so curious about our past.”

“Let me clean this rifle here, you’ll also own this too.”, she unhinges the trigger guard, “I’m fucking tired of going around town while carrying this thing.”

Clementine leans back against the wardrobe to watch Violet pulling back the guard along with the receiver, “I can also see you and AJ are settling in.”, she spoke up without looking at the other woman.

“Yeah,” the brunette tilts her head, “Is that okay?”

“Sure,” The deputy shrugged, “Besides, a conversation wouldn’t hurt.”

“I see,” the bounty hunter eyes the blonde, unhinging the receiver and slowly disassembling the parts by the hammer as much as she can without needing a screwdriver. Clementine repeatedly taps her finger by her bicep while thinking about the start of the conversation, not until AJ abruptly speaks to interrupt the silence, “How long were you being a deputy marshal, Violet?”

The deputy lets out a deep audible sigh, “Six years,” followed by a small chuckle, “way longer than my service as a sheriff, which it’s still odd without my previous lawman experience to be a damn deputy.”

“I mean, you look skinny back then.”, the boy lets out his brutal honesty to Violet, who looks at him with his raised eyebrows in amusement.

“You were scary honest and curious, little man.”, she returns her focus to her rifle, “Until now I’m still skinny like a starving pig, but throughout the years I had some background training to be capable enough to be a deputy marshal.”

“You’re… doing that while being a deputy all along?”, Clementine implored.

“Yep, it’s dumb for me to accept Marlon’s offer to be promoted as a deputy for a few weeks after the…”, Violet absently raised her hand to her right eyepatch, emphasizing what she meant.

“You need to be really capable for working beside a marshal like being prepared to the shit situations any day, socializing with townspeople, giving them an extra hand from their work, all that tiring physical stuff you need to do while Marlon is busy with other government shit.”, she pulled out the brush and strokes the nuzzle, “Back then, I have no problem in rescue operations and shootouts as a deputy, but carrying packages and people are my worst nightmares for having weak noodle arms.”

“Couldn’t imagine since I remember seeing you dragging the bandits around like they’re weightless back in the mines.”, Clementine commented.

Violet smirks to herself in pride, “That’s what six years of internal dread did to you.”

“Yeah.”, the brunette couldn’t help herself but voice out her agreement.

The blonde tilts her head a bit while digging the brush deeper, “Must’ve been tough for you out there, Clementine.”

“I mean, an African-American bounty hunter taking care of the same race boy?”, she hums, “All the bounty hunters I heard about are old white men.”

Clementine squints her eyes as she focuses on her missing ring finger by her left hand, remembering back when AJ is a toddler that’s been kept by her carrying cart while being surrounded by a group of confederate gunslingers. They wouldn’t hesitate to shoot a 13-year-old Clementine for crossing their open territory because their main concern is her skin color.

She clearly remembers them calling her offensive names, they wouldn’t hesitate to start a gunfight against seven confederates that cost a finger.

Years passed eventually getting her legal position to be a bounty hunter thanks to her old friend in Richmond, her reputation got more and more threatened from crossing one town to another for earning her bounties.

**_“I’ve heard about this negro…”_ **

**_“Not only that negro is a bounty hunter, but a woman too?!”_ **

**_“A female negro happens to be a bounty hunter, name one scarier thing than that!”_ **

**_“Would be better if her skin was pretty white. What a waste.”_ **

Repetitive phrases and words that stabbed her like a dagger. No matter how many times she reached for her revolver every town she passed by and hear the surrounding murmurs, she endured herself not to be turned into an outlaw.

Enduring comments like she’s a freed animal from the zoo managed to raise AJ in the following years.

“I understand your silence,” the blonde sadly furrowed her eyebrows, “I’ve seen that kind of shit everywhere, traveling to other towns with Louis and hearing comments about him is fucking nauseating.”

“What happened there?”, AJ wondered.

“Let’s say the confederate shitheads are everywhere,” Violet pulled out the brush from the nuzzle and swaps with the smallest brush, “I’m glad that town’s mayor is defending Lou, or else I might knock some of their teeth and get whitelisted.”

Clementine laughs softly, “You even vandalize the confederate books downstairs?”

“Oh, Minerva and Sophie did those,” she brushes off the dust by the chamber, “You can say I’m also involved there since I’ve watched them doing it like a bunch of children.”

 _‘It’s not uncommon to see whites defending us,’_ the brunette noticed, _‘But the way Violet does or say those things, I couldn’t help but feel like I was excited about it.’_

“And uh, those books originally belonged to someone else,” Violet added, “They happened to fucking steal it despite one of them is a lawman.”

“What’s the difference when it’s confederate-related?”

Clementine’s half-hearted joke gives Violet a sweet chuckle.

“And, um…”, the blonde stops brushing the disassembled receiver, “I’m sorry for being an asshole earlier this day, I just missed someone to have someone to comfortably talk with around my age.”

“Just imagine getting surrounded with a bunch of men for the past few years,” Violet sighs and half shrugs, “I know I have a habit… have a damn habit of being too harsh.”

“I don’t mind,” Clementine beams a sympathetic smile, saying the following words she wouldn’t think of, “I think you come off pretty okay for me.”

_‘Shit.’_

“Ah,” Violet leers to the brunette, “I- um, thanks. You’re pretty okay for me too.”

The two women looked away from each other for the following moments, letting Violet giving off the finishing cleans and adjustments to the rifle.

“What happened to the twins?”, AJ questions abruptly, making Violet stop, “Sophie and… Minerva?”

“AJ…”, the bounty hunter spoke up but the deputy hesitantly shakes her head while blankly stares at the empty rifle, “No, no. It’s okay, that just caught me off guard.”

She sighs, “They disappear from Ericsons one time, only my e- I mean, Minerva’s firearms are gone but all their belongings are left behind here.”

“There used to be all sorts of paintings and shit on the walls around the house. After they… afterward, Tenn and Brody took down all the paintings except the ones downstairs for some reason.”

“And that was the end of it… God, they’re mad talented too. Sophie’s an oil painter and Minera’s a singer, way decent than Louis.”, Violet harshly returns the receiver into the empty slot, giving a hard click by the rifle that makes the trigger snaps back its place. She raised her head and averted to AJ who’s been listening to her intently, “Well shit I got lost in my train of thought, hope you don’t mind that.”

“Well, they sound like they were good people.”, Clementine slowly steps forward to Violet who nods at her response, “Yeah, Sophie was a good friend. And Minera…”

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows, “… we were close.”

That followed by a soft click from the hammer and the throw lever.

“Alright, this thing should’ve been in a good shape now.”, Violet pulls out a cartridge bullet from her back pocket of her pants and loads it in the chamber.

“Fits as expected,” she mutters to herself as she hinges the back of the lever, closing the rifle’s chamber then pulls back the hammer to its full then pushes back.

“Your bounty’s ready and loaded,” Violet laid the rifle on the desk before she started cleaning up the workspace and returning the tools in the bag. Clementine walked over to the desk to pick up the rifle, reviewing its clean body and slightly discolored steel finish above the chamber due to the previous uses without maintenance. One thing that rifle’s different from the others she’s seen was the leather sling tightly attached near its butt and the adjustable start by the first edge of the barrel.

“I forgot to bring you a box of bullets here since I never thought the cleaning kit would be in this house.” Violet stands up while rubbing her nape, “I think it’ll be convenient when we meet by the shooting range tomorrow after sorting shit out with Marlon if he ever comes back from Alexandria in that time.”

“That’ll be a good idea, and I hope too he’ll be around by tomorrow.”, Clementine looks up to Violet, “Where’s that shooting range you’re talking about?”

“By the edge of town, the opposite side where the route to the mountains is. As responsible as I am, I forgot to bring a damn map with me.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll ask Marlon for it.”

The blonde walks off from the desk, “The kit and the other stuff here are yours to keep.”, she then looks at AJ, “If you’re curious about the photos in that album, ask Louis for it tomorrow, little man.”

After receiving a thumbs up from the boy, Violet slithers over Clementine then placed her hand on the brunette’s shoulder, “See you.”

The deputy strolls down the stairs and Clementine sighs audibly as she’s watching the other woman until she’s out of sight. Looking over to AJ shows him placing his holster and the photo album by the side of the desk while she walks over to the desk and takes off her vest and hat to set those aside by the desk, then twists the knob of the lantern to flick its light off.

Seeing AJ fully laid on his bed, the brunette approaches the unoccupied bed and pushes off her boots. Feeling the massive relief after countless hours of traveling and bloodshed from her previous days, Clementine plops down to the bed.

It was her first time for a while to feel at peace; staying _(and soon living)_ in an unknown town, with decent residents and welcoming lawmen.

“Clem?”, AJ spoke up, making slightly turn her head to him without adjusting her body, “Hmm?”

“This place is nice. I’m glad we found it.”

Clementine inhales in relief with a small smile, makes AJ ghosts a smile to her. She turns her head back to the ceiling and exhales, “Me too.”

Before she dozes off, she remembers that she forgot to mention to Violet about Sophie’s gift.

Mostly about her old relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried my best to describe on how damn rifles work but if you happened to be a gun enthusiast or smth to be cringing, I would like to apologize.


End file.
